Wood crafts his specialty

Published 1:00 am, Wednesday, April 12, 2006

His first career, lasting 20 years, was in the Air Force, where he did in-flight refueling.

After retiring, Hawks went to work for the
United States Postal Service
for 22 years and was responsible for facility maintenance throughout Connecticut.

After retiring from that job "I decided I needed something to do for the next 20 years," Hawks said.

That's when he opened Scrollin' Thru the Woods where he sells his handmade wood products.

The store offers items ranging from clocks to plaques in everything Renaissance to modern designs, as well as plenty of custom work.

As the store continues to expand, Hawks said he will be stocking more home decoration items such as parlor tables and washstands.

"One of my mottos is, 'If I can draw it, I can saw it,'" he said, noting he currently has requests for a quilt rack and a birdcage.

Hawks had always dabbled in woodwork but didn't get serious about it until about 1989 after coming across and deciding to reproduce a shelf built by his father and grandfather in the 1940s.

The renewed interest in woodwork led him to buy a cheap bandsaw and cheap plywood and construct a sleigh from a set of plans he found.

Then, a co-worker enlisted him to make a serenity prayer to hang on her wall. The prayer, with each word cut individually out of wood, took about 46 hours to complete.

It was only after he completed the project that he started to study up on the craft of scroll sawing.

"After I did it, I read the book, and of course, the book said I had the wrong saw, the wrong wood, the wrong blades," he said.

Rather than get discouraged, Hawks felt he had found a new calling.

"I figured if I could do that good with all of the wrong stuff, I could do okay after getting the right stuff," he said.

So Hawks started making more items and taking them to craft sales and the Greater Danbury Irish Festival.

It was at the Irish Festival that Hawks received the most encouragement.

He sold few pieces his first year as a vendor, but the following year, people were searching him out. By the third year, he had people coming from as far away as New York to buy and commission pieces.

As Hawks developed his craft, the objects he created became more complex, and it finally got to the point where he didn't want to transport them back and forth from shows and festivals for fear that they could break.

Perhaps the most complex piece Hawks has completed was an Apostle clock for a Danbury neurosurgeon.

The clock features the 12 apostles, simulated stained glass windows and plays "Westminster Chimes" on the hour and quarter hour.

Standing three feet tall, two feet wide and one foot deep, the clock is made up of 1,960 individual pieces.

In November 2005, he and his wife, Donna, opened the store on Route 202 in New Milford.

The front of the store is filled with Hawks's creations, including plaques with military emblems, clocks and assorted other items both simple and complex.

Most of the pieces are made from oak, which Hawks favors for its stability. But in the back room where he has set up a small workshop, Hawks has a small stash of wenge - a dense, heavy, chocolate-colored wood from Africa that a friend bought for him in India.

The workshop features a scroll saw, drafting board, worktable and shelves full of stains, finishes, patterns and wood.

Demonstrating his craft, Hawks takes a piece of oak and deftly follows the drawn lines of a pattern, leaving a smooth, curving edge along the cut.

Hawks credits his experience in the Air Force, at least in part, for his adeptness at the saw.

"The things I did were intricate," he said. "The refueling was difficult because I had to get that boom into a four-inch hole, and there was 20 feet separating us. But it was fun, and it kept my depth perception sharp so now I when I do things I can follow the lines."

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Scrollin' Thru the Woods is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The store is located at 153 Park Lane Rd. in New Milford. For more information call (860) 210-1140 or e-mail scrollkev2@aol.com.